HomeCricketIndiaT20 Mumbai League suffers costly blow after a top-bidder withdraws

T20 Mumbai League suffers costly blow after a top-bidder withdraws

February 27, 2018

Image Credit - Hindustan Times

The T20 Mumbai league which was recently launched in the city, with Sachin Tendulkar being named as the brand ambassador, has suffered a costly blow that has made it’s future uncertain. The league which is scheduled to be held from March 11 to 21, saw one of its top bidders, Shree Naman Developers, write an email to the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), confirming their withdrawal from the local t20 league.

MCA to float a new tender to bring in new bidder

Shree Naman Developers, who withdrew from the T20 Mumbai League, were to buy the franchise – Mumbai North – of the T20 Mumbai League. Confirming the news, an MCA official told Mid-Day on Monday, saying,

“We have received their (Shree Naman Developers) email stating that they do not wish to go ahead with the T20 league. They haven’t provided any reason for their dissociation. We will now have to float a new tender to replace the team.”

MCA likely to postpone the T20 Mumbai League auction process

It has been reported that Shree Naman Developers had bid over INR 6 crore to acquire the Mumbai North franchise. The MCA is now pondering over their options to either find a new buyer who is willing to match the bid price of of Shree Naman Developers for Mumbai North side, or initiate a fresh bidding process for the team.

The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) had received only nine bids for six teams with three bids getting disqualified. Yesterday’s setback is likely to force the Mumbai Cricket Association to postpone the MUmbai T20 League auction, which was scheduled for Wednesday (28 February). Another MCA official said that as the new bidders would have to be briefed about the whole concept of the Mumbai T20 League and it’s auction process, the schedule might get delayed by two or three days.

“It may be postponed by two or three days. That’s because we have to give the new owner time to understand the concept.”

However, the MCA officials are fairly confident that although the Mumbai T20 league might get delayed by a bit, it was sure to take place as decided. The MCA official said, “The league will take place, there is no doubt about it.”

Close to 1700 players up for grabs at T20 Mumbai League auction

Almost 1,700 cricketers have registered themselves for the Mumbai T20 League auction, while more than 200 cricketers have registered to be coaches and members of support staff. The MCA is already facing a challenge to get their big names to play the Mumbai T20 League, which is going to clash with the Irani Cup and T20I tri-series in Sri Lanka.